Some general tips
To prepare a successful TBLT curriculum, remember to:
Take into consideration your learner’s needs, interests, and language level!
Provide tasks to satisfy the different needs / hobbies / interests of your learners.
Treat your learners according to their age.
Beginners need short tasks that draw on information they already possess, call for more comprehension than production and should not have to perform critical or evaluative tasks if they are not ready for them, while more advanced learners may be ready to handle tasks that extend over several days or weeks, call for a great deal of new or unknown information and require complex processing such as evaluation, comparison, integration, and presentation.
Combine the different types of tasks to make your teaching more attractive!
Define some general topics, and set some goals to achieve progress in all 4 language skills. But do remember to give plenty of time to your learners to speak during the tasks!
Ensure that you have provided clear explanation on the goals of each phase of the activity.
Sequence your tasks to form task-sequences and organize each task-sequence into different lessons:
Shorter and simpler tasks (with less steps) should be undertaken before longer and more complex ones (that require a bigger number of solutions).
Tasks requiring known information should come before tasks calling for new information.
Tasks calling for existing ability to process information should precede those requiring new types of cognitive processing.
Calculate the time you have and split a long task-sequence in more than one lesson if necessary.
Transform existing activities into tasks and use them in your class or create your own. Evaluating your activities using the 6 questions we saw in this module can help you!
Decide on the method of instruction according to what you wish to achieve in each occasion:
Work individually can be useful for self-assessment where learners have to evaluate themselves and see what they have learnt.
Work in pairs can be beneficial for ice-breaking at the beginning of your course or for opinion gab or information gap activities, where there is a need for exchange.
Work in a group can be great for problem-solving tasks or for presenting the outcome of the task.
Use the design principles and steps as a guide for creating your TBLT curriculum.
